Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events – day 1,087

Here is the situation on Saturday, February 15:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian drone hit a confinement structure built to contain radiation at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, but the situation was stable after a fire was extinguished and radiation levels were normal. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the explosion.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 133 drones in attacks across Ukraine overnight.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces have taken control of two frontline settlements in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and a village outside the region’s Kurakhove city.
The ministry also reported the capture of Zelene Pole, Velyka Novosilka and Dachne – all towns the Russian military claimed to have captured last month.
Ukraine’s military confirmed the locations had come under attack but it did not confirm their capture by Russia.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy said North Korean troops fighting for Russia against Ukraine have suffered 4,000 casualties, with two-thirds killed.
Zelenskyy said the morale of the North Korean troops had been “broken” by their battlefield losses.
In an interview with a United States broadcaster, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has a “low chance” of surviving Russia’s ongoing invasion without military support from the US.

Ukraine has secured the return of eight children forcibly taken to Russian-occupied territory, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Since the start of the war, at least 20,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russian-occupied territories or to Russia itself, according to the Ukrainian database, Children of War.

US Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration wants a “durable, lasting peace” for Ukraine and Eastern Europe in his first meeting with Zelenskyy in Munich. The US did not want a resolution that sees “Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road”, Vance said.
Zelenskyy has asked for “security guarantees” for Ukraine as part of any future peace deal during his talks with Vance.
French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his view that it is “Ukraine alone who can drive the discussions for a solid and lasting peace” with Russia.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius branded recent statements on Ukraine by the US’s new administration as “clumsy” and “a mistake”.
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen warned that forcing Ukraine into a bad peace deal with Russia would compromise US interests.
Meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Vance said NATO members must increase their military spending so the US could focus more on Asia.
Hungarian President Viktor Orban says he believes the Trump administration will reconnect with Russia’s economy and energy networks with the end of the war in Ukraine.